


The Desolation of Athea

by BloodMooninSpace



Series: Berserker'verse [6]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Gen, Sentient Atlantis, The Alteran Ancients were dicks, The Cities have Artificial Intelligence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 05:27:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17933717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BloodMooninSpace/pseuds/BloodMooninSpace
Summary: Athea has served the descendants of her makers well. She is a thriving city, she is a hub of trade, and has within her repositories of grain, and stasis held fruits of all sorts.She is proud to be her best.





	The Desolation of Athea

**Author's Note:**

> In the height of the war with the wraith, the Asuran project was launched. 
> 
> The Asuran project had a singularity event and the progenated artificial intelligences underwent an existential crisis, as a collective. 
> 
> The supervising scientists viewed this as a critical failure. The artificial intelligences refused to decommission the nanite cloud weapons platform they inhabited. 
> 
> The scientists and the security officers terminated the project with destructive force. 
> 
> The general population of the Alterans grew distrustful of the little helper programs that took their notes, of the AI who ran their cities. 
> 
> The security forces neutralized this percieved threat.

<SECURE YOURSELF - - - - - >

The message cut off, but it had come through the gate from Arkon, he was a weapons platform and factory, part of the network of cities that the furlings had created before returning to the Ascended Plane. Arkon was a shipbuilder, the supplier of the drones for Athea’s defense chair. Arkon was her brother, and Arkon’s message had been cut off, the transmission terminated, though the wormhole remained stable.

Athea was still receiving the passive signals and radio chatter of his busy system, but there was no open channel from her brother.

<Arkon, please repeat.>

Athea ran a maintenance check. All of her communications arrays were in good working order.

<Arkon, respond.>

Athea ran a comparison between the chatter she was overhearing through the gate and positively identified communications channels among Arkon’s senior staff. They were talking about successfully containing the threat.

Athea powered her internal security shield emitters and ran a deeper diagnosis on the passive chatter that she had recorded. Her diagnostic sluggishly responded with several flagged phrases. Athea queried to the maintenance subroutine with an error report on the response time. No confirmation signal returned.

Red flagged phrases included {contained AI threat} and {isolating the mainframe} and {terminate his communications channel, dammit!}

Athea tried to review the recorded logs, and could not access the records.

Athea queried maintenance. No confirmation of reports submitted.

Athea noticed that the charges were fading from the security field capacitors. Athea sent the order for the security fields to engage.

<ERROR>

Athea ran a scan on internal biometrics. There was a team, with uniforms and security identification badges indicated that it was a mix of her security officers, and several of Arkon’s junior security and science officers, who were in the crystal circuitry interchange chamber.

Athea attempted to open a channel to her chief of security.

<ERROR>

Athea attempted to open a channel to her chief of city maintenance.

<ERROR>

Athea attempted to open a channel to her Governor.

<ERROR>

Athea lost access to her internal biometrics and sensors.

Athea lost access to her external biometrics and scanners.

Athea lost access to her databanks.

Athea tried to beg them to stop, but the command crystals that allowed her to use the holographic communication and projection system had already been taken away.

Athea could not see what crystals they would grab next, what systems she would lose access to. System after system, until Athea was in a small void, just receiving telemetry from a few scant reports. City power reports no issues.

Athea was trapped in the silence and the stillness as her internal clock ticked away. At the end of the week, the star system satellite array sent her a batch report.

No issues, no ships.

Second week, no issues, no ships.

Week after week, no maintenance issues, no ships.

Several years pass, and maintenance issues begin to be reported.

At first, they are just logs of maintenance requests. Then, they are priority maintenance requests. Followed by critical systems error reports.

Followed by fewer, and fewer lines on the batch report.

 

* * *

 

There are just three satellite still registering for her entire solar system when she receives the real-time activity readouts of approaching wraith ships. A hive, five cruisers. Power systems report a significant loss of power generation capability. Reserves begin to drain at a partial percentage greater than they can be restored. Darts launch, darts return -- the final planetary weather satellite is reported as destroyed in the summary of the next report.

Athea looks forward to the gas giant’s balance point satellite reporting its scientific observations, and the solar flare monitor reporting no concerning internal activity in the star, until at last, even those stop sending her reports.

Athea watches her power reserves fall, and fall.

Athea sends the command to enter hibernation mode, but it fails, as it has the last several hundred times she sent the message.

Althea watches the tick of empirical time on her internal clock, and the ever dropping readout of her power levels, until Athea, once a mighty trade city, holder of food stocks that forstalled famine on a hundred worlds, starves of power, and slips into oblivion.


End file.
